and yes, i was screwed by the APE hack. but 1Password doesn't appear to be at the system level like APE was.

Basically, what that is saying is that this type of hack isn't as bad as another type of hack. By definition they are still hacks. While I understand the benefit of some of these hacks, relying on them is like walking around with a sign that says "kick me". Yes, you can always uninstall them, provided you're even aware they are hacks in the first place and that they are causing the problems you are experiencing.

What's worse, on other forums, I keep reading about how people are complaining about Safari 4. In each case, it's due to an unsupported hack (not always the same one). While I share their frustration for a bad user experience when something doesn't work, I can't help but think their blame is misplaced. The point here is that when these products stop working (or worse, more important products break because of them), people shouldn't be surprised. I find it irrational that some would hold off installing a major new product because it isn't compatible with a hack they are running. It's reasonable to hold off installing Safari because it's a beta product. But, hold off because of a hack?

i haven't used Safari in years. so the fact that i am holding off on a beta shouldn't be seen as irrational. i am in no hurry. when it's no longer a beta, i still won't be in a hurry. i like Firefox and Flock. Safari is just a curiosity for me.

Top Sites (a ripoff of the feature in Opera, by the way), is nice. But the convoluted method you have to go through to "pin" the sites you want to show up every time is a mess.

Firefox has an extension called FastDial that offers similar capabilities, but allows you to easily customize it, including the preview image. I created custom thumbnails to make it easier to find the sites I have set up (see images below)

Safari Top Sites on the left, Firefox w/FastDial on the right (click image to view larger):

I liked the fact that having the tabs on top got rid of the wasted space of the Window bar (about 20+ pixels height), but I missed being able to double click the empty space in the Tab bar to open a new blank tab, and I was really used to where the tab bar was located. You can see the results of the Terminal commands in my Safari screenshot above.

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